The Pittsburgh Steelers will play their 15th game of the 2024 regular season on Saturday afternoon on the road against the Baltimore Ravens. They’ll enter that contest as underdogs as well. Below are five key things that I believe the Steelers will need to do to come away with their 11th win of the season on Sunday in Baltimore.
First Things First – Let’s just get this back out there right off the top. The Steelers’ offense has been downright lousy on first downs so far this season and especially on 1st and 10s. So far this season, the Steelers have averaged just 4.6 yards per play on first downs with 10 yards to go and they are ranked last in the NFL in that stat entering Week 16. The Ravens, on the other hand, lead the NFL in that stat as they average 7.4 yards on first and 10 plays. That’s a crazy discrepancy.
In the first meeting this season between the two teams, the Ravens averaged 7.9 yards on 1st and 10 plays. The fact that the Steelers went on to win that game is quite surprising. The fact that the Steelers defense did do a respectable job on third downs in the first meeting played a part in that Week 11 win, in addition to K Justin Tucker missing two field goals.
It’s not reasonable to expect the Steelers to win another game against the Ravens on Saturday if their defense isn’t better on 1st and 10 plays. Additionally, the Steelers offense must do a better job on their own 1st and 10 plays if the team hopes to come back from Baltimore sporting the shirts and hats with AFC North Champions printed on them.
Keep Up With The Tempo – Last week in the team’s road loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Steelers’ defense struggled a bit when up-tempo was used against them. That even led to the Steelers having one play with just 10 players on the field. Luckily, that play resulted in OLB T.J. Watt forcing a fumble. Even so, the Ravens are likely going to try to go up-tempo on Saturday against the Steelers and especially with them playing at home.
The Ravens certainly should use up-tempo on offense early on Saturday and especially on the heels of the Steelers defense having to play nearly 80 snaps against the Eagles. Assuming that they will, the Steelers’ defense must be better prepared to communicate calls and use proper personnel rotation from the sideline when able to. Forcing the Ravens into a short series when they’re using up-tempo could ultimately conserve the gas in the tanks of several players on defense.
The Steelers defense just can’t get gassed and then gashed on Saturday. That is a real concern when it comes to this short week with another on game on tap, and coming on heels of the play amounts in Week 15.
Tight Ends Justifies The Means – The Steelers offense won’t have WR George Pickens on Saturday and that will be a huge loss for that unit. In the first meeting this season between the Steelers and the Ravens, Pickens was responsible for 89 of the 205 passing yards registered by QB Russell Wilson. With no Pickens on Saturday, you can bet the Ravens’ defense will easily be able to focus on taking away the Steelers’ other receivers and mainly Calvin Austin III.
Back in Week 11, Steelers tight ends Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington combined to register four receptions for 56 yards. They’ll need that duo to add considerably to that combined yardage amount on Saturday in Baltimore and it might just be possible. So far this season, the Ravens defense has allowed opposing tight ends to register 78 receptions for 860 yards and three touchdowns. Only five other teams have allowed more receiving yardage to tight ends than they have.
If Wilson can’t get the football to Freiermuth, Washington, Connor Heyward, or MyCole Pruitt at least eight total times for right around 100 yards on Saturday, it might be tough for the offense to score and points, and specifically touchdowns. Remember, the Steelers offense failed to find the endzone against the Ravens back in Week 11 and they had Pickens for that game as well.
Make Ratbirds Fly To Wides – As is the case nearly every time the Steelers face the Ravens, the onus will be on the team’s defense to shut down the ground game that features QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry. That’s a tall task in and of itself, but the Steelers’ defense, with a little bit of help from the Ravens, accomplished that task the last time the two teams met several weeks ago.
The next tall task for the Steelers’ defense, assuming they can ground Baltimore’s running game, will be to make sure their talented tight ends, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely, don’t have impactful games. In short, the Steelers’ defense must force Jackson to win Saturday’s game by throwing to his wide receivers, a group that will be with Nelson Agholor (concussion) and possibly Rashod Bateman (foot) as well. Even if Bateman plays on Saturday, he isn’t likely to be 100 percent as he’s been in a walking boot this week.
The Ravens’ other wide receivers not named Zay Flowers or Bateman, which means Tylan Wallace, Devontez Walker, and Anthony Miller, have combined to catch 11 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns this season. If Baltimore can win on Saturday by mainly using their wide receivers, good on them and Jackson.
Going To Need Havoc Plays – While the Steelers failed to score a touchdown against the Ravens the last time the two teams met, Pittsburgh was able to come away with three takeaways in that contest. Two were forced fumbles by OLB Nick Herbig and ILB Patrick Queen and the other one was a fantastic interception by ILB Payton Wilson. Thankfully, those three Pittsburgh takeaways at least produced nine of the 18 points scored in that contest.
If we’re being honest, the Steelers will likely need at least three takeaways on Saturday in Baltimore to beat the Ravens. Sure, you can maybe substitute a blocked punt for one of those as they are just as good usually. On top of the takeaways, the Steelers defense will likely need to sack Jackson at least three times on Saturday. They sacked him twice in the last meeting so that’s a reasonable expectation.
The Steelers aren’t likely to win the explosive play battle on Saturday due to them not having Pickens on offense, so they will likely need to offset that with havoc plays. The Steelers lead the NFL in takeaways with 30, so they’ll need to add to that amount some on Saturday to beat the Ravens.
